I&B Ministry to hold Twitter conference on Community Radio today

In an unprecedented move, the Ministry of Information and Broadcast is holding a Live Twitter Conference in order to reach out to the Indian youth in the social sphere. Dubbed "MyIndia Initiative – A Digital Volunteer Programme," the initiative aims at disseminating information about developments in broadcasting in India via social media platforms.

The MyIndia initiative will aim to register citizens as volunteers in order to "contribute positively towards nation building." The topic for the Twitter Conference is "Community Radio: Road Travelled and Way Forward.’ You can participate in the discussion by tweeting your questions directly to the I&B Ministry using the hashtag #ComRadio. Your questions need to be directed to the I&B Ministry handle @MIB_India. The discussion will start at 4pm and the time set aside for this discussion is 30 minutes.

Connect with the I&B Ministry over Twitter today

This activity will give ‘twitteratis’ (not sure anyone even uses this term anymore) a chance to interact with Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials, including the Secretary, Uday Verma. This is the first time the I&B Ministry is actually taking to social media to try and elicit questions and comments from the youth, even if it’s on a topic like Community Radio. A press release by the Ministry specifies that questions pertaining to the topics will be answered.

This conference is being held on the eve of the Community Radio Sammelan, which has been held since the past three years on February 8. The press release mentions that this is the first time any Ministry in the Government of India is holding such a conference.

Speaking on the occasion, I&B Minister Manish Tewari said that this initiative was a milestone as it would enable the government to disseminate information to citizens, especially the youth of the country. He said that this is a programme rooted in the principles of participative governance leading to real-time engagement through social media tools. The minister called upon the youth to be part of a "Digital Volunteer Family," which would enable the government to conduct personalised interactions with citizens.

It will be interesting to see how the government's first ever Twitter conference works out. If all goes well, we hope the I&B Ministry holds debates and answers questions regarding the more important topics concerning the country. The I&B Ministry would gain a lot of fans if it became more transparent and open with netizens in the country.